But this was but a branch, and a small one, of
my profession. My noblest blows were struck at
the community at large; and struck in that most
magnificent of gambling-fields, the stock-market.
My skill here—for I inherited all the sagacity and
daring that had distinguished the original owner of
my body—was such as to keep me at the head of
that confraternity of which I have spoken before
I was the very devil among the fancy stocks; and
had the good luck to originate and conduct a stroke
of cornering, by which no less than twenty young
shop-keepers, who were ambitious to be seen on
'change and in brokers' offices, and to dare that
achievement of audacity, selling on time, were
smashed like coal-candlesticks, and half as many
wiser and richer desperadoes were driven to the
verge of ruin.

My chief strength, indeed, was shown in the
management of small stocks, and especially those
that were good for nothing, and more especially still
in southern mining-companies. It was here that
we of the Clipping Club, as the members of the
fraternity delighted to call themselves, found our
fairest opportunity to prey upon those passions of
cupidity and terror which lay the ignorant at the

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mercy of the knowing. No one knew better than
myself how to get up or depress such a stock. I
knew how many ignorant widows, poor parsons,
infirm artisans, and other needy persons were to be
cajoled, by the prospect of handsome and increasing
dividends, to invest their petty savings when it
could be done at small premiums; and I knew how
easily the terror of loss could drive them out of
their investments. To say the truth, the principal
business of myself and my brother clippers was to
bob for such minnows; and it is incredible how
they bite, though it is only to be bitten. A few
words scattered at random, and still fewer uttered
in confidence, were enough to send shoals of these
unlucky creatures to swallow what we thought
proper to sell; and a few doubts and long faces,
added to the throwing away at low prices of a few
dozen shares, sufficed to convert the trembling holders
into sellers, whenever we deemed it advisable to
buy. In this way I have known a pet stock to be
tossed up and down like a ball, while every ascent
and downfall served the purpose of filling the pockets
of the fraternity and emptying those of the victims.

In such occupations as these passed three months
of my existence, and, sinner that I am, I thought
that they passed very honestly. The spirit of
Abram Skinner had left such a taint of rascality in
his body, that my own was thoroughly imbued with
it; from which I infer that a man's body is like a
barrel, which, if you salt fish in it once, will make

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fish of every thing you put into it afterward. A
grain of lying or thieving, or any such spicy propensity,
infused into the youthful breast by a tender
parent, will give a scent to the spirit for life; and
as this is a fact, I recommend parents to take no
notice of it,—not supposing parents will take advice,
except by contraries. The passion of Abram
Skinner destroyed every trait that had belonged to
Sheppard Lee; and as for those I had taken from
John H. Higginson and I. D. Dawkins, they were
lost in like manner. I was Abram Skinner, and
nothing but Abram Skinner. I scarce remembered
that I had ever been any thing else. I am free
now to confess, what I was not so certain of then,
though I had my doubts on the matter at times,—
namely, that in labouring so hard after lucre, I was
only striving to sell my soul to the greatest advantage.

Idleness is said to be the root of all evil. The
root of much evil I never doubted it was. But my
experience in the body of Abram Skinner has convinced
me, that the industry to which a man is
goaded by the love of money is the root of much
greater evil,—of a bigger upas, indeed, than ever
sprung from the bed of the sluggard. The idler
may betake him to the bottle, as the idler usually
does, and then lapse into a reprobate, which is a
common consequence; but, at the worst, his crimes
are committed at the expense of individuals. The
man of avarice drinks out of his purse, which intoxicates
quite as deeply as the bowl, makes war upon

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communities, preys legally upon his neighbour's
pocket, and just as legally consigns his neighbour's
children to want and beggary, from which it appears
that he is a drunkard, thief, and murderer,
just as naturally as the idler. The latter, by indulging
his propensity, loses his character; the
former, by indulging his, loses all those generous
sentiments and feelings, the sense of honour and
instinct of integrity, upon which character should
be founded. The man who enriches himself by
extracting wealth from the soil and the bowels of
the earth, or by the practice of any art or business
which supplies the necessaries of life, or ministers
to the convenience of society, makes his money virtuously,
and deserves to enjoy it in honour; but he
who gains a fortune by the mere gambling legerdemain
of speculation, by turning his neighbour's
pockets wrong side out, is—not so much of a Christian
as he supposes. My honest opinion, formed
after much reflection and experience, is, that bulls
and bears are as little likely to go to heaven as any
other animals.

In regard to myself, I am as free to confess, that
my course of life while in Abram Skinner's body
was deserving of all reprobation. I hope that the
acts I then committed may be laid to old Skinner's
door; but, for fear of a mistake, I have endeavoured
to repent them, as being sins of my own
committing: and this course I recommend to all
those good folks who are persuaded their peccadilloes
are the fault of others, and for the same reason,

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—namely, lest they should be mistaken. I confess
also that I had my doubts, even at the time of committing
them, of the righteousness of my acts, and
that I sometimes had bad dreams: but the fury of
avarice stilled the pangs of conscience, as the fury
of wrath and battle stills those of the wounded soldier.

Having made these admissions, I will now betake
me to my story.